Kingdom Cartoon Hearts
by Gijinka Renamon
Summary: Dan and his friends dreamed of seeing other worlds, but never in their wildest dreams did they ever imagine an adventure like this... My second attempt at a Kingdom Hearts parody, hopefully this one will turn out better.


Kingdom Cartoon Hearts

**Author's Note: **Yeah, I know what you're all thinking: "What, Gijinka? A_nother_ Kingdom Hearts parody? Even when you've barely even started on Anime Hearts: Link of Memory?" Well, I was thinking about it, and decided to try the concept again, but one that's considerably better (at least, I hope it is...). I may get back to Anime Hearts, but that probably won't be for a while.

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I do not own pretty much anything you see here. Otherwise, I wouldn't be saying this, would I?

* * *

_A long time ago, there was a world that was united by the light that filled it._

_The people there loved the light, but eventually; they began to fight who owned the light._

_And thus, darkness began to grow in the hearts of the people._

_It quickly spread across the world, consuming the people's hearts as well as the light, and soon the world vanished into darkness._

_But shards of light remained in the hearts of children, who used them to recreate the world; however it was no longer united and was instead split into several smaller worlds._

_As for the true light, it was hidden in the darkness, and there it still sleeps…_

* * *

_**Prologue: Destati ~ Dive into the Heart**_

* * *

_It's weird, but I've had a lot of things on my mind lately. I mean, how do we even know if we're dreaming if we're still awake…? _

In a dark void that seemed to stretch endlessly onwards, a teenaged boy fell slowly downwards, winds tugging gently at his mud brown hair as well as his clothing; a yellow t-shirt, under a red and black short-sleeved jacket, matching pants, blue fingerless gloves, black boots, and a pair of dark-tinted sun shades pushed up onto his forehead.

Slowly, his eyes opened, and he gazed blankly upwards at the void around him. Then there was a flash, and he found himself on a beach. The boy squinted and raised one arm over his eyes to shield them from the harsh sunlight.

"What? How'd I wind up here?"

Suddenly, his eyes widened, for there, standing in the shallows was a boy about his own age with dark hair in a long ponytail wearing a purple vest over a black shirt, and matching pants.

The boy turned to face him, and held out a hand like he wanted him to take it. The brunette stepped forward, only for the tide to rapidly recede into the ocean, swelling up and rising over the blond-haired boy's head.

"Oh no… Shun!" The boy rushed towards his friend, intending to pull him back to shore, but before he could, the wave hit, sending him tumbling through the water.

He could still see his friend, and tried to swim to him, but the current was too strong, and he was thrown backwards through the water again. With his lungs practically screaming for air, the boy had no choice but to swim upwards until he reached the surface, taking a gasp for air as he did. He then glanced around, but saw that his friend was nowhere in sight.

Looking up, he could see that the sky overhead was golden with orange and pink streaks, showing that it was sunset.

_Huh? Wasn't it just daytime? How long was I underwater?_

"Hey, Dan!"

Surprised, he turned to see a girl standing on the shoreline, waving at him. She had bright blue hair in long ponytails on both sides of her head, and wore a pale yellow yalter top, a whitye shirt, orange-and-white-striped socks, brown boots and burgundy fingerless gloves.

Relieved to see a familiar face, the boy, Dan, swam to shore, and stood in front of his friend, breathing heavily.

"Runo," he gasped out, "Have you seen Shun anywhere?"

"No, I haven't, sorry." The girl answered. "Why? Did you see him somewhere?"

Before the boy could answer, something caught her attention and she pointed up at the sky, saying, "Hey Dan, look at all the shooting stars!"

Dan turned around, and indeed, multiple stars were falling to the earth, leaving colorful streaks across the sky. Then he noticed a dark object falling with them.

_What's that? _He wondered, and squinted, trying to get a better view of the strange object. _It looks like… _his eyes widened in shock as he realized what the thing really was… _Me!_

Suddenly, the ground gave way beneath him and he realized that he was falling through the air instead of standing next to Runo, who tried to reach for him, but was unable to do so. All she could do was watch helplessly as he slipped out of reach...

* * *

He felt himself drifting down into what felt like water, spiraling deeper and deeper into the darkness, until finally, his feet connected with something solid.

Cautiously, he took a single step forward… and what looked like a large flock of doves suddenly took off, revealing what looked like an aged, yellowed piece of parchment depicting a young woman with red hair in a ponytail, wearing a green jacket over a white t-shirt, a blue skirt, and blue and white sneakers. Around her were images depicting a tall red creature, a purple-furred Minotaur, a plant/plane/bird thing, a blue creature resembling a Pacman ghost, a rabbit in a top hat and jacket, a little old lady, and a young boy.

"What the heck? Where am I?"

Suddenly a deep voice came out of nowhere, echoing across the void and causing him to jump in surprise.

"_**There is so much to do and so little time to do it in. Just take your time, and don't be afraid, the door is still shut."**_

"What? Who are you?" The boy looked around, but he couldn't see anything other than the darkness overhead. Then there came a dull rumbling noise as three pillars emerged from the surface of the parchment.

On one pillar was a sword with a cobalt blue hilt and a curved silver blade. The next pillar had a wooden staff with a red gem on the top with entwining vines carved down its sides. The last one held a rounded shield of black metal with white trim and an image of a green hourglass on the front

"_**If you give it form,"**_ the voice said, _**"Then it will give you strength, so choose well."**_

Dan frowned. "Okay then… I don't know what's going on here, but I guess I'll just play along…"

He stepped forward to examine the objects on the pedestal, then after a moment, picked up the sword, testing its weight in his hand.

Overhead, the voice boomed out, _**"The sword represents power of the Warrior, invincible courage, a sword of terrible destruction. Do you choose this power?"**_

The boy nodded. "Yes, I do."

"_**Very well then, the choice has been made. Now we will go on to your next test."**_

The pillars san back into the parchment until there was no trace of them. Then out of the corner of his eye, Dan saw something flickering. He turned and was startled to see flames eating at the corners of the parchment, which grew rapidly until they had consumed everything beneath him, sending the boy falling into the darkness.

* * *

When he came to, Dan found himself on yet another parchment. This one showed a girl in a pink ballerina tutu with her blond hair in twin pigtails smiling serenely with a not-all-there expression on her face. Behind her on one side was a short red-haired boy in a lab coat; on the other was a taller dark-haired boy, both looking angrily at each other.

"_**It's time you learned how to fight." **_The voice said, _**"Use this power to protect others, for there are times when you have to do so, so keep your light shining strong."**_

The boy blinked. "What are you…?" Then a movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He spun around to see dark shapes with glowing yellow eyes appearing on the floor and rising up to form small, shadowy creatures with claws and antenna who eyed him hungrily like a pack of wolves.

Dan took a step back, exclaiming, "W-what are those things!"

"_**You must fight, for you have the power," **_said the voice, and the sword reappeared in his hands with a flash.

Curling his fingers around the hilt, Dan shifted into fight mode, and shouted at the creatures, "Don't mess with me! I've been doing this for ages!"

Having practiced with a wooden sword before, Dan had a pretty good sense of fighting with a blade, which certainly came in handy here. He fought his way though the shadowy creatures, hacking and slicing, until the only thing left of them were a bunch of inky stains on the parchment.

As he stood there, taking the chance to catch his breath, he heard the voice saying, _**"Very good, you truly are worthy of the task ahead of you."**_

"Wait? What task? What exactly am I worthy for?" The boy demanded angrily, but his voice went unheard.

_**"Now it is time for the next test."**_

Suddenly, and without any warning, the stains left behind by the creatures began to expand, and more spots appeared on the surface, swallowing up the parchment. Soon, the darkness had spread out from beneath his feet and Dan felt himself sinking through it like quicksand, pulling him under before he could even move to pull himself out…

* * *

The darkness was all around him, as he furiously tried to fight it off, batting at the darkness that surrounded him. Then Dan realized he was laying on yet another piece of parchment, this one depicting a beautifully designed heart shape in a myriad of bright colors with silhouettes of three female figures in each corner. But what really caught his attention was the door that had appeared on the far side of the parchment.

_Finally, I can get out of here!_ He thought, and jogged over to the door, keeping a wary eye out for any more of the shadow creatures. Seeing none, he pulled on the doorknob, but it stayed closed, no matter how hard he pulled.

"What's wrong with this stupid door?" He demanded as he pulled on it, but again with no luck.

"_**Hold on," **_came the voice again, _**"Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"**_

The door creaked open, revealing blinding white light behind it. Cautiously, he stepped through, unsure of what he would find…

* * *

Dan blinked again. This time, he was standing on the tree fort he and his friends had made a few summers ago. Sitting balanced precariously on a ledge was a girl with tanned skin and silvery hair dressed in a pink midriff top and matching jean shorts along with white boots and matching fingerless gloves. Standing in a corner was a short blond-haired boy with glasses dressed in a white and blue hoodie, jean shorts, blue fingerless gloves, and blue and white sneakers. And over by the opposite railing was another boy, this one with brown hair and kind blue eyes simply wearing a white jacket over a white shirt and jean shorts.

Relieved, he walked up to the first boy, asking, "Hey Marucho, what's going on?"

The short boy turned to face him, but said nothing, which gave Dan the creeps. Finally, he said, "What are you afraid of?"

"What?"

"I said, what are you afraid of?"

"Marucho? What are you..."

That's when he came to a sudden realization: none of this was real, it was all an illusion created for some strange purpose. Whatever it was, he'd have to play along.

"Okay, I'll bite. What I'm afraid of…?" After a brief pause, he said, "Don't tell anybody, but I think I'm really afraid of getting old."

The boy just looked at him curiously, saying, "Is that really so scary?"

Ignoring that, Dan then turned to the only girl, Julie, who asked him, "What's the most important thing to you?"

Dan took a moment to think about it. "Hm… that's kinda hard, I mean, I want to be number one, but my friends are also very important to me."

"Both your friends and being number one? Are they really that important?"

The other boy, Joe was the last one to speak, and he asked Dan, "What do you want out of life?"

Dan grinned. "Well that's easy! I wanna get stronger, of course!"

"You want to get stronger huh?"

Overhead, the mysterious voice boomed out, _**"You are afraid of getting older, you value both your friends and being number one, and you want to be stronger? Your adventure will begin soon, and as long as the sun is shining, it will be a pleasant one."**_Frowning, Dan glared up at the sky. "Wait, an adventure? What the heck are you talking about?"

_**"The day you will open the door is both far off and very near."**_ The voice continued, and suddenly Dan found himself back in the void, standing on a new scroll, this one showing a picture of a brunette girl with a long-sleeved pink shirt with darker pink sleeves and jeans, her hands clasped together and her eyes closed. Her image was surrounded by various silhouettes, some less humanoid-looking than the others.

But then a movement nearby caught his attention, and as he watched, dark spots appeared on the parchment, rising up and forming into more of the creatures he had seen earlier. This time, Dan didn't hesitate and rushed at his attackers, the shadowy creatures falling before his blade. Before he knew it, the creatures had all been destroyed, leaving him alone on the parchment.

Then he noticed something off to the side, and prepped himself for what would happen next…

To his relief, this scroll didn't burn up or become swallowed by darkness; instead, a series of colorful steps appeared at the edge of the platform, rising up into the darkness and out of sight.

Quickly, he hurried up the steps, all the time wary of them disappearing under his feet and sending him falling again. Thankfully, nothing happened.

The steps lead up to a piece of parchment that depicted a dark-haired girl in a gothic-looking outfit glaring up at him with her arms crossed over her chest. Her image was surrounded by purple roses with black stems, adding to the whole gothic feel of the image.

Again, the voice spoke, bringing with it a cryptic warning. _**"But be warned, the closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes…"**_

"My…shadow?"

Quickly, Dan turned around in time to see his shadow rising up and solidifying, quickly taking on a monstrous shape until it towered over him as a dark giant with glowing yellow eyes peering out of a mass of writing tentacles._**"But don't be afraid."**_Despite the advice, Dan took a nervous step backwards, and then another, until he turned tail and ran, only to stop at the very edge of the platform, flailing wildly as he tried not to fall into the gaping abyss. Gulping, he turned around to face the dark giant.

"Guess I don't have a choice…!"

Even as the sword materialized in his hand, Dan charged into battle, ready to take it down.

The monster slammed one of its clawed hands down on the parchment, trying to crush him, but Dan rolled out of the way in time, and then attacked it fiercely. This caused the giant to roar in pain and retract the wounded limb from the "ground". leaving behind a black stain that rose up to form more of the small shadowy creatures.

Dan hurriedly killed them off before turning his attention back on the giant, attacking its limbs. Again and again he struck at the giant's arms, dodging its attacks and killing off the smaller shadow creatures when they attacked him.

Finally, he jumped back, ready to deliver a final blow, when suddenly; the sword vanished, leaving him totally defenseless.

"Uh-oh…"

Dan stumbled backwards, falling to the ground, stumbling backwards to escape the monster. Suddenly, a circle of darkness spread out from under beneath him, swarming across his body, weighing him down…

_**"You hold the mightiest weapon of all…"**_The only thing he could do now was to roll over onto his back, helplessly watching the dark figure looming above him until the darkness completely covered him and his vision went black…

_**"Remember this: you are the one who will open the door."**_


End file.
